Cheats and Walkthroughs

Review

Cheats and Walkthroughs

Review

Cheats and Walkthroughs

The Kingdoms of Amalur MMO, also known as Project Copernicus, was being developed by 38 Studios before the studio went bankrupt earlier this year. In a recent interview with Boston Magazine, 38 Studios head Curt Schilling voiced his concerns about Project Copernicus, explaining how the game "wasn't fun," even after years of development.

'“The game wasn’t fun,” he says, unprompted, beside the softball field. “It was my biggest gripe for probably the past eight to 12 months.” Visually, Copernicus was stunning, but the actual things you could do in the game weren’t engaging enough. The combat aspects especially lagged. Schilling — who never wavered in his belief that the game would be great — says the MMO was improving, but after six years, it still wasn’t there. When Schilling walked around during lunch hour, he says, nobody was playing Copernicus’s internal demos. They were all on some other game."'

The Boston Magazine editorial also outed the mysterious publisher who wanted the rights to a Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoningsequel. Schilling says the deal with Take-Two Interactive was near the "final sign-off" when Rhode Island's Governor made statements about 38 Studios' financial problems. However, Take-Two had something entirely different to say on the matter.

According to Boston Magazine, when asked about the negotiations between Take-Two and 38 Studios, Take-Two spokesman Alan Lewis said, “I am not aware that there were any negotiations," adding, "We do not comment on rumors and speculation.”

Before finally declaring bankruptcy in June, 38 Studios also tried courting a Chinese investor and successful Korean MMO company, Nexon (Vindictus, Dragon's Nest) in order to keep the studio alive. Neither deal was a success.

The side effects of 38 Studios' closure has left many employees in situations beyond belief.

On May 24, the entire 38 Studios staff was laid off via e-mail. They hadn’t been paid since the end of the previous month, but their problems were just beginning. In short order, their healthcare disappeared and their 401(k)s were frozen. Then, MoveTrek Mobility — a company 38 Studios hired during the relocation to Providence to buy and resell employees’ Massachusetts homes — notified seven people that, because it had not yet sold their houses, they were potentially responsible for their old mortgages. And Atlas Van Lines alerted some individuals that they were on the hook for bills that management hadn’t paid.

You can read the full feature for yourself to see some of the heartbreaking ways these employees have had to adjust. What do you think of the whole situation, now that's it's beginning to unravel even more? Let us know in the comments section.